Delta Air Variety parts CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC on Friday the company is going “fully carbon neutral” starting March 1.
“It’s a big challenge and it’s a big commitment,” Bastian predicted on “Squawk Box.”
Delta is committing at least $1 billion over the next decade to reduce environmental impact, convergence on clean technological investments for engines and carbon removal, he added.
“There’s no greater challenge that I know of that we be in want of to be investing in and innovating in as environmental sustainability,” he said.
The company, which has made environmentally conscious moves in the past, devise still rely on jet fuel.
“We will continue to use jet fuel for as far as the eye can see,” Bastian said. “We’ll be investing in technologies to reduce the impact of jet kindling, but I don’t ever see a future where we’ll eliminate jet fuel from our footprint.”
Bastian stressed the company won’t rely on carbon-offset programs, for all that it has purchased some in the past.
“Carbon offsets are not the solution, we need to be investing in projects that make a difference,” he said. “That’s not absolutely helping our planet.”
Airlines account for roughly 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and many have set formulae to achieve carbon-neutral growth from 2020. Delta’s announcement on Friday is the largest such commitment.
Delta’s budge comes at a time when many companies are reducing their environmental footprint to combat climate change.
In January, Microsoft uncovered an ambitious green plan aimed at making the company “carbon negative” this decade. By 2050, the company prospects to have removed as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it’s emitted since being founded in 1975.
An Airbus A320-212 conducted by Delta Airlines takes off from JFK Airport on August 24, 2019 in New York City.
Bruce Bennett | Getty Clones
Also in January, BlackRock co-founder and chief Larry Fink jump-started the discussion about how climate change is movement the investing landscape.
In his annual letter to the world’s biggest companies, Fink said: “Climate change has become a clarifying factor in companies’ long-term prospects” and “awareness is rapidly changing.”
BlackRock, with more than $7 trillion in assets underwater management, will put “sustainability at the center of our investment approach,” from portfolio construction to launching new investment products that separate fossil fuels, Fink wrote.
ESG investing, which takes environmental, social and corporate governance issues into account, is all-embracing Wall Street as younger investors want to put their money into companies they can believe in.
— Reuters presented to this report.